


Homeward Bound

by Fangirlishness



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Episode 2x05 And the Hollow Men, Episode Tag, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 11:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5455454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlishness/pseuds/Fangirlishness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Flynn is running because that's just what he does. Right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homeward Bound

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [greyathena](http://archiveofourown.org/users/greyathena) for the speedy beta and for generally being an awesome friend.

  
_I wish I was_  
_Homeward bound,_  
_Home, where my thought’s escaping_  
_Home, where my music’s playing,_  
_Home, where my love lies waiting silently for me_

  
  
  
  


The elevator door closed between Flynn and the Library with a hiss, and he knew what he had to do. He quickly went over to the catalogue and grabbed the Complete Works of Shakespeare and the two most important references on the poet’s life written by Librarians. Those were his best bet to find Prospero’s staff, knowing that a Librarian had hidden it. He hoped Prospero still needed it and wouldn’t just fashion Zarathustra’s staff of knowledge into his new staff. He just had to rely on Prospero trying to use the knowledge to get his own staff back first.

He thought of a place where he wouldn’t disturb anyone with his reading and let the backdoor surprise him. He stepped out into a sunny meadow and looked around as the glow from the door behind him faded and left a dilapidated shed door in its place. Hawaii, from the trees and the mountain slope and the angle of the sun. Very good, the additional hour of daylight would help, he had a lot of reading to do.

.... ...... .... .

The further he got through the notes he’d taken with him, he realized that he was missing a book. It seemed like the notes were referencing another book, but they never mentioned it outright. The Librarians who had written the notes seemed to think it obvious. It would take a little digging in the card catalogue to find it. He hesitated in his reading, wondering whether he should go back for it right away, but decided to read the rest of the notes instead. Maybe he wouldn’t need the other book at all. 

Reading the rest of the notes turned out to be harder work than he’d thought. He kept being distracted by the missing book. And the iridescent beetle that clambered over his hand and across the page. And the beautiful sunset clouds. He forced himself to continue through the fading daylight and rising sea winds to the very end of the notes. When he was finally done, he had a faint headache. He got up and stretched his back, thinking back over what he’d read, but the pages weren’t as clear in his memory as he was used to. He hadn’t been properly concentrating, he guessed. Maybe it was time to get some sleep, after all. He’d continue tomorrow.

.... ...... .... .

He made a detour so he could spend the night in a small bed and breakfast he liked. Vance, the owner, was old and friendly, and the place was equally old but well kept. The common room was too loud for his taste tonight, but the stew he got for dinner tasted excellent as always. It offered very good value for little money. Charlene had always approved. He sighed at the thought.

.... .... . ... ....

Flynn stepped back into the Library, and headed straight for Eve’s desk. She got up a little cautiously, but couldn’t hide a grin at his unexpected appearance. 

“You came back alive.”

“Yes, I did,” he laughed in response and rounded the desk to sweep her up in his arms and kiss her like he’d been wanting to kiss her for weeks. She wrapped her arms around him with strength—her strength kept surprising him, even after all this time—and crushed him to her. He kissed her with all the passion that had built up inside him, and she pulled his lip into her mouth and bit him—

The dream wrenched away from Flynn, and the world tilted back to the horizontal with nausea-inducing vertigo. He gasped for air, the smell of her hair still in his nose, and a stabbing pain pierced his heart. He curled up around the pain and burrowed deeper into his covers, feeling very alone. He couldn’t help running his tongue over his lip where it prickled faintly, but of course it was completely whole. Eve had never hurt him, and he was sure, or had been sure, that she would never do anything like that, but… his sleep-addled brain kept replaying the look on her face the last time he’d seen her. _No kiss._ He might not get to kiss her ever again. He wrapped his arms around himself and willed the memory to fade.

He couldn’t really get back to sleep after that. Maybe he didn’t want to.

.... ...... .... .

Knowing he hadn’t done his best with the notes yet, he went over them again, postponing the trip to the Library until he’d gotten everything out of them that he possibly could.

This time, they obediently settled in his memory the way they were supposed to. He decided he could just as well check out some of the mentioned locations without getting that book and made his way to Stratford-upon-Avon. The weather there was a lot less friendly than in Hawaii, and he wished he’d brought a warmer coat, but that was back at the Library, so he made do with the woolen cap he always carried in his bag.

He worked down the list of places he had copied from the notes, keeping his eyes open for traces of Prospero or Moriarty. It took him the whole rest of the day to figure out that the first two locations didn’t exist anymore. The most recent notes he had were over two hundred years old, and the town had changed a lot since then. He wasn’t even sure the ley lines were still in the same places. 

When it was too dark to continue, all he had to show for his trouble were sore feet. But now that he’d started, it felt like he should work off the whole list, so he took a hotel room as close as possible to the geometric center of his search area. Calculating that it would take him at least three days to follow all his leads, he set to it with determination. 

The days stretched on, and it got harder to keep up his enthusiasm. He felt like he’d been crossing his own path a thousand times, with a few stops at the local library to memorize historic street maps, but nothing interesting jumped out at him. There was just one advantage to being on his feet all day, every day: he was exhausted every night. So, every night, he slept like a log, and it kept his sleep reassuringly free of disturbing dreams. Well, except for the one where he dreamed he was a squirrel, but he refused to take that one seriously.

The days weren’t quite so reassuring. Walking through town gave him a lot of time to think, and his thoughts kept returning to Eve. Several times, he tried pointing out sights to her, and just barely stopped himself before speaking to thin air. He knew he didn’t really need her with him, but those last three months had been so good, and he wanted... he wanted more. But that was wishful thinking, and invariably led to a hopeless tangle in his head: she had left him, or let him leave on his own, which came down to the same thing, and now she was disappointed in him, and alone, and he was alone, and why had he wanted that? All that circular thinking hurt and confused him, and he wished he had something more intellectually challenging to do but walk up and down bleak streets all day. 

At least there was nobody there to hold him back or ask stupid questions. He could work without interruptions, and he did his best to get it over with quickly.

When he’d found - or given up on finding - every single item on his list, and come up with nothing of importance, he knew it was time to go back to the Library. The thought that he avoided going back had slowly crept up on him during the week, and every day it was harder to dismiss. It confused him. He loved the Library. It was his home. Why would he avoid going back? Probably because the Library had sent him on this quest, and he didn’t want to return empty-handed. Or maybe because he still dreaded Eve’s accusing looks. But he had no leads left to follow, so there was no other choice.

.... ...... .... .

He slipped in through the corridor of doors, since the back door always made such a racket. The Library turned on the lights for him, but considerately turned them down again when he asked it to, just leaving on a few spotlights so he could find his way to the Annex. Nobody seemed to be in, which was a relief. 

He set to digging into the card catalogue and even though it was slow going, in the end he had not one but four books that he hadn’t known existed before. He sat down at his desk. The Library had apparently seen fit to lay it out for him again today, and his heart warmed at the memory of Ray calling him his best friend. He let his hands glide across the polished desktop in gratitude and opened the first book. 

.... .... . ... ....

“What are you doing?”

He jumped at the voice behind him. “Charlene!” He twisted around in his seat, a grin splitting his face. “I’m researching, what does it look like?” He gestured at all the open books on his desk and the host of colorful post-it notes adorning them. “What are you doing here? Where have you been?”

“I had to stopper the leaks at the edges of the Library.” She came up next to him and leaned against his desk, scrutinizing him from her higher position. “Hadn’t you noticed that some rooms were still hovering half inside the Void?”

He shook his head, surprised.

“I was busy keeping them anchored. Every time I had one properly attached, two others started slipping.” She huffed, and Flynn noticed how tired she looked.

“Couldn’t you have asked us for help?”

“The Librarians?” she scoffed. “I don’t think they can handle the magic. In any case, it’s done now. All the rooms should be stable.”

Something bristled in him when she insulted him and the LITs like that. They weren’t that bad. “But you shouldn’t have done it all alone. You could have asked me, at least.”

She raised her eyebrow at him, “Like you asked them to help you? You’re here all alone, on purpose, avoiding them.”

“I’m not avoiding them! This is how I’ve always worked. Alone, out on adventures, doing my thing.”

“Oh, Flynn,” she sighed. “You were never alone. Judson and I were here, and you spent almost all of your time here. You were always happiest here: researching, learning, playing with Cal. I remember you throwing a fit once or twice when Judson had to send you out. You wouldn’t have left on your own at all, if he hadn’t made you.”

His head was reeling. This couldn’t be true. He latched onto the first thing she mentioned, ”But Judson isn’t here anymore. And neither is Cal!”

“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere,” she smiled indulgently. “And instead of Judson and Cal, now there are all these other people.”

“Yes! - No!”

Her voice turned considerate in a way it hadn’t in years. It reminded him of his mother. “You’re running because things have changed. This is now their home base, too, and you feel like they’re intruding into your safe space.”

Was she right? That would mean he’d been operating under wrong assumptions the whole time. His thoughts hadn’t stopped spinning yet, if anything, they were spinning faster. He’d thought working alone had felt right because that’s what he’d always done, but Charlene had made a very good point. So was she right about the real reason, too? Was he afraid of losing the Library? Indeed, he felt some apprehension at the thought of them having free reign over the Library, exploring its secret corners, growing closer to it, disturbing it just by being there. 

Charlene put a hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes, “Flynn, you’re still the Library’s best friend.”

He was. All his flying thoughts fell out of the air like big raindrops. Charlene’s face turned all blurry, and he found he couldn’t speak, so he just nodded at her.

He took a deep breath and sat up straighter. He could do this. He loved adventure. Always flying by the seat of his pants, as Eve liked to remind him, he should be able to handle change. He’d invited them into the Library himself, and he knew, logically, that it had been the right call. He wouldn’t take it back. They were all smart. Not as smart as he was, but still very smart, and the Library approved of them. Ray had said so. They belonged there. 

He just hadn’t expected to feel so displaced at the same time. Nor had he expected Eve to take up such an important position in his life. His heart sank. Eve. He just didn’t know whether it was possible to fix what had gone wrong between them. 

Charlene interrupted his train of thought when she put her fingers under his chin. She gently lifted his face and looked deep into his eyes. “I said what I came to say. I suggest you wake up now and make a decision.”


End file.
